Death is Strange
by Interspark
Summary: There are many ways to survive the zombie apocalypse; grit, determination, skill with a gun, or the ability to rewind time. Max Caulfield had superpowers AND a fiercely reliable pair of allies, but when Max's power abandons her, and gets her partners killed, she's left defenceless in a hostile world, in dire need of new allies, if she's to survive.
1. Chapter 1

Birds chirped merrily in the early morning sun. The zombie apocalypse had done little to subdue their numbers or their nauseating positivity. A chilling breeze blew between the trees, and morning dew was heavy in the air.

Max Caulfield walked...

She walked onwards, one foot in front of the other, wrestling with every fiber of her being, not to think about anything else. Left foot. Right foot. Keep walking. She hadn't come across any zombies since her adrenaline high ended, which was just as well, Max wasn't sure what she would do if she had to fight her way past any, and frankly, she couldn't find it in herself to care.

The apocalypse had done a number on the diversity of humans. Specifically, it had weeded out almost everyone who wasn't a grizzled, take-no-shit, badass, and the people who were prepared to train to become one, not unlike a reasonable, pre-apocalypse, job application. Max Caulfield had always been an extraordinary exception to that rule.

Max's girlfriend (and best friend) Chloe Price, on the other hand, had been the poster child for not taking shit. The first zombie she killed was far from the first dude to obnoxiously invade her personal space, nor the first to sorely regret it. Rachel Amber, Max's other girlfriend, hadn't quite shared Chloe's enthusiasm for violence, but still, people (dead or otherwise) messed with her at their peril.

The three of them had loved each other desperately, certainly beyond caring about a since gone society's hang ups about the correct number of people for a relationship, but that wasn't the only reason these two formidable women kept a meek and timid hipster around, Max Caulfield was their secret weapon. Max had a super power... had... past tense...

The first time Max saw a zombie, sinking its teeth into Chloe's neck, she had cried out in defiance and, to her astonishment, time had undone itself before her very eyes. Like a rewinding video, the undead marauder had shrunk back into the building the girls had unwittingly wandered into, affording Max the foresight to tell her partners to run for their lives.

With a little experimentation, it dawned on the trio, that Supermax had the power to rewind time, essentially making them untouchable... or so they thought... Surprise zombie attack? No problem. Unstable floorboards? Think again. Some asshole with a sniper rifle? Not on Max's watch. As long as Rachel and Chloe took all the risks, and kept Max safe, they were always one step ahead, and even then, Max herself had been bitten by zombies plenty of times, and every time, she abruptly retconned that crappy timeline.

But even time travel powers can't always save you from the perils of overconfidence...

The three of them had been exploring an abandoned mall. It was an optimistic scavenging trip. When the shit hit the fan, people had looted malls in droves, but the girls had stumbled upon the building on their way to Seattle, in the hopes of finding a secure settlement (and maybe even Max's parents), and it seemed worth a look. The building was worryingly intact. Good for shelter, but bad, as far as means of escape went, not that it was too concerning for team Max.

An uneventful scavenging trip followed. They found some zombies, who Chloe gladly introduced to her crowbar, and found some backpacks, with a couple of days food, and some bullets in them, probably dropped by some poor soul who'd had a worse day than they were having. More interestingly, Rachel found an acoustic guitar, and took the opportunity to serenade her loves, after forming a makeshift campsite in the food court, in the middle of the mall.

Musical indulgences were always a tactical decision, with sound-sensitive undead everywhere you looked, but as mentioned, it was hard to worry, with Supermax on the scene.

Slowly, like an ominous, creeping shadow, a sound rose in volume, rising over Rachel's angelic voice. It was the gurgling, rasping roar of the dead, an entire herd. Rachel dropped the guitar and they ran. The first exit they came to was already overrun. Zombies clambered over each other like ants, desperate for flesh. They turned and ran back to the food court, but to their dismay, they saw that the dead were beginning to file in from the other entrances, too.

Max cursed herself. Obviously, she should have rewound, the second they heard the zombies. The less music to lure them in, the better. Still, better late than never, or so Max thought... Straining herself to go back as far as she could, Max found herself grabbing Rachel and Chloe's wrists, just before the left the food court, the first time, and leading them to a different exit.

The results weren't much better... It turned out, the dead had surrounded the mall, as though thinking with military tactics. Max rewound again and again, her head pounding as the ability took its toll. Eventually, sprinting frantically, she led her girlfriends to the safest exit, which still had its fair share of zombies in-bound. At first, they tried to bottleneck the dead, killing them as the filed through the narrow doorway, but that plan proved impractical, as the shambling army loomed from the center of the mall.

Their backs against the proverbial wall, the girls forced their way out, finding themselves in the loading bay, behind the mall, with more zombies than most people generally liked, closing in. They faught furiously, but before long, the worst happened, a zombie wrapped its arm around Rachel's shoulder and shredded the side of her face with its teeth. Max rewound, but the new timeline wasn't much better. On their next attempt, Chloe was bitten, then Max. Max rewound again and again, but she was in a situation controlled not by choices, but chaos. Having seen her girlfriends die, didn't give her much foresight, when moving out of the way just meant moving into the path of another zombie, yet Max went on...

Max rewound five times, ten times, twenty times, fifty times adamant that there was a timeline where all three of them got out alive. Her head pounded and blood poured from her nostrils, but still it was the same. Finally, a glimmer of hope began to show, as they made it passed the worst of the herd, but just as it seemed they'd make it out, Chloe and Rachel were seized almost simultaneously. Max winced, feeling like her brain had been through a blender, and yet she tried to rewind one last time, but when she did, she felt something inside her snap.

The world slowed almost to a halt, but Max couldn't move. She stood petrified, looking at Rachel and Chloe's horrified expressions, as two sets of zombie teeth bore down on them. Max focused with all of her might, but time wouldn't yield, the only effect seemed to be more trauma on Max's aching brain. She continued to hold time still, but she could feel even that slipping away from her. She looked mournfully at Rachel and Chloe's faces, before letting go, turning around, and running, tears streaming down her face.

Max had been walking ever since. Rachel and Chloe were dead, and it was all her fault. They had grown dependent on a power that had ultimately turned out to be worthless. _She_ had been worthless. What would she do now? Seattle seemed meaningless. In her heart, she knew it was very unlikely that her parents were alive, life is about the journey, not the destination, so they say, but Max's favourite part of the journey had been the company, and now she was alone...

The forest thinned, as Max approached a road, running perpendicular to her path. Looking left and right had kind of had its day, and even if there were still cars on the roads, Max's depression had bumped self-preservation a few notches down on her priorities list. That was how her trip across the road, came to be interrupted by the screeching of tires, as a car ground to a halt, just shy of slamming into her.

Briefly startled out of her melancholy, Max looked with interest, as a girl, a couple of years her junior, wearing a denim jacket and a ratty, blue and white baseball cap with a D on it, leaned out of the window on the driver's side.

"Hey..." The girl said, after the two were finished sizing each other up.

"Hi..." Max replied.

Unexpected social interactions were no less awkward in the apocalypse, albeit for different reasons. Now, they came with a plethora of questions. Who is this person? Are they alone? Are they dangerous? Have I already made a mistake by not murdering them?

"You know, I know no one has much reason to have a spring in their step these days, but I almost put my foot down." The girl said. "I thought you were one of them."

Max wasn't sure if the girl was trying to make her laugh. Either way, she didn't.

"I'm Clementine, by the way. Who are you?"


	2. Chapter 2

"Why would we trust her?"

"She's alone, and she's unarmed, AJ, she's not a threat to anyone."

"Maybe that's what she wants us to think! We should drive, before her friends arrive!"

"AJ... I've seen that look in her eyes in a dozen different people. Trust me... her friends are gone..."

After a brief exchange with Max, Clem had extended an ambiguous invitation to join them, which her young charge AJ, sitting in the back seat, had reacted badly to. Clem had politely asked Max for a moment of privacy, to which Max seemed indifferent. While Clem and AJ discussed the situation, essentially with Max's life in their hands, Max stood on the edge of the forest, motionlessly staring at the trees.

"Even if she's not dangerous, that's still a reason to leave her." AJ insisted. "She's weak. She'll drag us down with her."

Clem frowned disapprovingly. She was about to tell AJ that she hadn't raised him to think such horrible things, then she thought back on AJ's survival lessons. Okay, maybe she had... Clem desperately wanted AJ to survive, but maybe stressing that, above all else, had been a mistake. That was probably how people ended up like Carver, or David. 'Okay Clem', she thought to herself, 'Time to step up your parenting game.'

"AJ, I know we don't need her, but I'm pretty sure she needs us. Even if it puts us in danger, it's the right thing to do." She said, gently.

AJ frowned in discomfort. He didn't enjoy arguing with Clem, but she could tell he wasn't swayed.

"Remember the Ranch?" Clem tried, cringing slightly at the traumatic memory, and feeling bad, for reminding AJ. "How you felt, hiding in that locker, waiting for raiders to find you? That's probably how she feels right now."

AJ's frown slowly changed to one of sympathy. He looked over at Max, who was holding her hand out at a tree branch, for some reason. "I don't _want _her to die, or anything..." He said, sounding conflicted, staring at his feet.

"How about we offer her a ride, for now, and see how it goes?" Clem compromised.

Meanwhile, Max was watching a dazzling, blue butterfly, climbing up the bark of a tree. She had long since stopped questioning the fact, that she repeatedly caught sight of this exquisite creature, wherever she went, for the past few years, since she had reconnected with Chloe (much longer than the lifespan of any one butterfly). She held her hand out to it, trying, with all her might, to make it climb back down. Her vision blurred, and the butterfly slowed to a halt, but again, Max couldn't move, and she felt like her head was splitting in two. Max sighed in defeat, and lowered her hand. She had gone from being untouchable, to having the power of a person with faster-than-average reaction times...

"Hey." Came Clem's voice, snapping Max out of her woeful thoughts. "So... you heading our way?"

-x-x-x-

Conversation in the car was scarce, especially from Max. Clem had suggested she take a seat in the back, to keep AJ company. Truthfully, it was so AJ could keep an eye on her, purely for his own peace of mind. Clem had meant what she said, she could tell Max was in mourning, and wasn't a threat to anyone, but she knew AJ wasn't so perceptive. Plus, it wasn't every day, or even every month, that he got to have an actual conversation with someone, other than her, which probably wasn't entirely healthy.

The group had swapped brief pleasantries. Their names, where they were from, where they were going, although none of them had much of an answer for that last one. Clem was curious to know how someone who clearly had very little fight in them, had made it this long, but hadn't yet figured out a way to ask, without being crass.

"What's that hanging from your neck?" AJ asked, at one point.

Max looked down at her polaroid camera, hanging around her neck, by a strap. "It's a camera. Do you... know what that is?" She asked. Obviously, this little boy had been born, post-zombies.

"Yeah..." AJ replied, slightly defensively. "We found a wrecked one once, and Clem pretended like it was working."

Clem smiled at the fond memory of teaching a child of the apocalypse, what a selfie was. He hadn't really understood. Gaining self-confidence from your appearance was something of a pre-apocalypse luxury.

"Well, this one is still working..." Max said proudly.

She was about to add that she only used it for very special occasions, since the paper and ink they used were virtually impossible to find, any more, but then she realised how badly she needed a pick me up, such as her favourite artistic indulgence. And besides, fateful encounters with new people (who weren't murderers), was about as special as it got, these days.

"Do you... want me to take your picture?" Max offered.

AJ was uncertain, never having been extended such an offer before. "What do I have to do?"

"Nothing, just look at the camera, but don't smile. Try to keep a natural expression." It only then occurred to Max that the boy wouldn't have the pre-apocalyptic instinct, most people had, to smile for cameras. AJ hadn't smiled since she got in the car, and was showing no sign of starting now.

"Can you take Clem's picture as well?" AJ asked.

"I'll take a picture of you both together?" Max offered. She had the materials for maybe a dozen more pictures, and each one was precious.

"Sure, sounds fun." Clem agreed.

Clem slowed the car to a stop, and turned around in her seat. AJ leaned forwards and put his head besides hers. He followed Max's instruction of maintaining his steely glare, but Clem was smiling warmly. Max didn't mind though. It wasn't the forced smile of someone who wanted a good picture, she seemed genuinely happy to partake in something dumb and fun with her young friend. It was the kind of smile Max felt lucky to capture.

A snap and a flash later, Max's picture came whirring out of her camera. She took it out and fanned it back and forth, to dry the ink.

"Whoa, it's us!" AJ remarked, once Max showed them the picture, as though he hadn't fully believed that the camera could do what Max claimed.

"Nice face, goofball." Clem laughed.

The shot had captured the beginning of a startled flinch, caused by the camera's flash. The picture was still a winner though, Max was relieved to note. While the car continued on its path, Max fished her photo album out of her blue satchel, and found a place for it, at the end.

"You took a lot of pictures." AJ noted, as Max flicked through her book.

"It's what I wanted to do, before the world ended." Max explained. "It still is, really."

"You mean like, for a job...?" AJ asked, in confusion. He had a rough understanding of how capitalism had worked, based on Clem's stories of life, before walkers. "Why would anyone pay you to do that?"

"Pictures are really useful, AJ!" Clem pointed out. "People needed them to illustrate books, and newspapers, and you needed photographers like Max, for that."

Max was hesitant to correct Clem, when she was only 70%-80% sure she wasn't a murderer, especially at the risk of sounding pretentious. "Actually, my pictures are more about art, than information."

"Art? Like... drawing?" AJ asked, confused again. "But all you did was press a button..."

"AJ!" Clem softly critisised. She knew she couldn't exactly expect AJ to understand the nuances of artistic photography, but she wished he had given Max the benefit of the doubt.

Far from offended, Max almost smiled. "There's a little more to photography than that... There's angle, lighting, position of the subjects, the environment. They all have to line up just right, to get the perfect picture."

AJ thought about Max's insight for a moment. "Can I see more or your perfect pictures?"

"I don't know if they're all perfect, but they are all... crazy important to me..."

Max had almost said they were 'hella important'. She had used to appropriate Chloe's catchword, as an expression of endearment, which never failed to lift Chloe's spirits. Almost using it now, though, just refreshed Max's misery.

"So, you can look at them if you want, but please try not to smudge them." Max continued, carefully handing AJ her album.

AJ began flicking through the album at the start. The collection of Max's favourite pictures began before the apocalypse, and detailed her life, starting from when she lived in Seattle. AJ quickly ate his words, and uttered hushed exclamations of surprise and appreciation, for Max's talent. Respecting Max's request, he was very careful, when he held the album over Clem's shoulder, to show her a picture of Seattle's famous Space Needle.

"Wow, that's awesome, Max." Clem sincerely agreed with AJ. "You're really talented!"

Max smiled weakly at the compliment, but didn't reply. AJ continued browsing. Before long, he started seeing pictures of Arcadia Bay. Quite suddenly, almost all of the pictures that weren't selfies, were of Rachel and Chloe. Rachel had been such a poser, but somehow, her boundless confidence meant that posing _was _her natural state, which made her a photographer's dream. Chloe, on the other hand, played it more cool. She knew she was gorgeous, and loved every picture Max ever took of her, but she had the patience to wait for Max's inspiration to strike. As such, most of Chloe's shots were candid.

AJ looked up at Max, and noticed the sad, nostalgic look in her eyes, which hadn't been there before. "Who are they?" He asked. "They're really pretty."

A tear rolled down Max's cheek, and she faught the urge to start openly weeping. "They were beautiful..." She agreed.

AJ noticed Max avoiding his question, and remembered what Clem said about her friends being dead. "It's good that you have so many pictures." He offered. "Even if... whatever happened to them... they'll always be pretty, in this book."

Assuming he was speaking euphemistically, AJ had wisdom beyond his years, and Max appreciated his implied condolences.

Before AJ could browse any further, Clem abruptly ordered, "AJ, give Max her book back."

"How come?" AJ asked, a little disappointed.

"Because we've got company." Clem said, darkly.

Ahead of the car, its source obscured by the forest, the tall, thin smoke column of a camp fire, rose ominously into the air.


End file.
